Microsoft Gulf announces beta availability of Internet Explorer 9

Microsoft Gulf announces beta availability of Internet Explorer 9

The new version also takes advantage of the power of modern PC hardware to improve all around web browsing performance.

October 1, 2010 9:46 by Rasha Reslan

Microsoft Gulf today announced the beta availability of its new web browser, Windows Internet Explorer 9 (IE9). The new browser delivers a fast, clean, trusted and interoperable online experience that takes full advantage of Windows 7, putting the focus on the sites and applications people care about.

The new version also takes advantage of the power of modern PC hardware to improve all around web browsing performance. This comprehensive approach to performance includes the introduction of a new scripting engine, Chakra, that uses common multi-core Central Processing Units (CPU) in PCs to deliver significant performance gains. Internet Explorer 9 is also the first browser with full hardware acceleration, harnessing the power of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), reallocating much of the graphic processing to the GPU instead of the CPU. By using the GPU, Internet Explorer 9 unlocks the 90% of the PC’s power that went previously untapped by web browsers. And lastly, IE 9 comes equipped with a robust set of built-in security, privacy, and reliability technologies that keep customers safer online.

“Internet Explorer 9 uses the power of Windows and the whole PC to bring you a better web,” said Wilson Xavier, Windows Business Group Lead, Microsoft Gulf. “With Windows and Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft lets customers reimagine the role of the browser to deliver an experience that makes your web feel as native as your favorite PC applications. The result is a more beautiful web experience. It creates the foundation for a wave of compelling, immersive, websites and applications that deliver an experience like what people expect from an application running on Windows. We are helping the web go native and unlocking the Beauty of the Web.”

The worldwide beta availability was accompanied by over 70 top websites and global brands who created new experiences to show off the capabilities of Windows Internet Explorer 9 at the Beauty of the Web event in San Francisco. Developers and designers from partners around the world showcased how they have used Internet Explorer 9’s capabilities to tap into the power of the PC hardware, Windows 7, a new user experience and support for modern standards like HTML5 to create immersive sites. Together these partners reach over 800 million visitors or about two thirds of the active people on the web.

“With Internet Explorer 9’s platform, Microsoft creates opportunities for brands to engage customers in new ways and drive not only more site traffic but also more value in the online experience,” said Rami Saad, Director of Emerging Technologies, Publicis Groupe Media. IE9 takes a big step forward in browser innovation for the way people use the web today. Today’s visual-heavy web demands measures such as hardware accelerated graphics; making Internet Explorer 9 the best version of Internet Explorer that Microsoft has released to date.”

Clean Site-Centric Design Integrates with Windows 7 and Makes Sites Shine

Internet Explorer 9 puts the focus on the applications with a clean experience, Windows 7 integration, and more pixels dedicated to the website, not the browser, allowing your sitesto shine. Browser controls are reduced and framed in “glass” so that, while they are discoverable, people see their web content first and foremost. Additionally, the design principles in Windows 7 carry through to Internet Explorer 9 so that sites appear more like native applications on the PC. This includes features such as:

Pinned sites. With pinned sites, a user’s favorite websites can be accessed directly from the Windows taskbar with having to first open the browser, making it quick and easy to get to the content you care about

Jump Lists. With Jump Lists you have a quick and easy way to get to a common web site task without having to first launch the browser

Tear-off Tabs and Windows Aero Snap Tabs. You often need to use more than one website or page to accomplish a task. Tearing off a tab by dragging it away from the browser, and using Windows Aero® Snap is a great way to show two sites or pages side by sid

To download the new Internet Explorer 9 Beta and experience many of these new sites visit www.BeautyoftheWeb.com.